Air & Space Museum is interested, but coming up with the cash and finding a place for it could be astronomical problems

The San Diego Air & Space Museum wants to snag one of the space shuttles that NASA is parting with.

As the saying goes, though, “Houston, we have a problem.” Actually, the museum faces several problems: The shuttle’s price tag is $29 million, and just a few years ago, the Balboa Park-based museum was operating in the red. The facility also isn’t big enough to house the shuttle, so the signature showpiece would have to be displayed somewhere else.

And competition for the orbiters is steep. About 20 other museums across the country, including ones in New York City and Los Angeles, are gunning for the three available shuttles.

Still ...

“You have to throw your hat into the ring,” said Jim Kidrick, president and CEO of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. “It would be the cornerstone for something truly great. In my opinion, it’s better than the football stadium.”

Funding would have to come from people willing to bring something this special to San Diego, he said. A shuttle represents the best of humanity’s technology, he noted, and there are local residents who have amassed great fortunes thanks to their technological innovation. There also are aerospace companies with ties to San Diego that may be interested in helping.

Kidrick is forming a team that will work to spur interest and investment in the project. “We’re in the explorative stage,” he said.

The shuttles are about to be mothballed as NASA moves in new directions.

The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is slated to get one — the Discovery. It’s open season for the other three: Atlantis, Endeavor and the test shuttle Enterprise, which never went into orbit. (Atlantis and Endeavor are considered the real prizes.)

NASA hasn’t said when it will announce the winning cities.

San Diego has a rich aviation history. The Spirit of St. Louis, in which Charles Lindbergh made the first successful trans-Atlantic flight, was built here.

But the city can’t afford to help in the space shuttle effort, given the financial difficulties it faces.

“As great as it would be to have a national treasure such as the space shuttle, the city simply doesn’t have the money to spare,” said Alex Roth, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders.

It’s hard to predict how NASA will select the winners, said Robert Pearlman, founder of the online publication collectSPACE. The agency could choose museums in states where the shuttles have historic ties, such as Florida, where the orbiters are launched. Los Angeles might have an advantage because parts for the shuttle were made in that area, Pearlman said.

NASA also could decide to spread out the shuttles geographically, so people throughout the nation can get the chance to see them.

San Diego’s air and space museum is “world class” and qualifies for the shuttle, Pearlman said. But there are other West Coast museums, such as the one in Seattle, that NASA could easily choose as well.

“Money is king here,” Pearlman said. “To get in the door, you have to ante up.”